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Spliffdaddy · Sep 27, 2006, 07:06 PM

from 2003 - NewsMax

A spokesman for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, told protesters this week that he wasn't sure whether his boss had helped lynch any African-Americans when the top Senate Democrat was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940's.

Members of the African-American Republican Leadership Council and the Washington, D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com staged the sit-in in Byrd's Hart Building Senate office on Tuesday, where Byrd's press secretary Tom Gavin fielded questions for about 20 minutes.

"We asked Gavin, does he know what Sen. Byrd did while he was in the Klan?" Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the FreeRepublic group, told NewsMax.

"He didn't know," Taylor recalled. "He said he hadn't talked to Byrd about it."

"We asked Gavin if he knew what the Klan was doing in West Virginia in the 1940s when Sen. Byrd was a member," added Taylor.

Byrd's spokesman pleaded ignorance again.

"Were they lynching black people?" came the next question. "Again, Gavin didn't know," Taylor said.

Then the protesters wanted to know, did Byrd's Klan chapter burn crosses on black peoples' lawns and run them out of town?

"He didn't know. He had no idea," came the response from the Byrd press aide.

When pressed on why Gavin didn't try to find out more about Byrd's Klan past in the wake of last month's Trent Lott fiasco, the spokesman said only that he had failed to do so and didn't explain why, according to Taylor.

"The main thing that shocked us was when Gavin said Sen. Byrd told him that the reason he joined the Klan back then was because of its strong anti-communist stance," he explained.

"We laughed," Taylor said, recalling the protesters' reaction. "That's pretty much the same excuse Trent Lott offered," he added, referring to the brouhaha last month that forced Republican Senate Majority Leader to resign his post for praising Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat presidential bid.

Does it really matter if he lynched anybody? I mean, now that he's a leading Democrat and he has admitted he was wrong to be in the Klan - that should be enough. Right?

Kevin · Sep 27, 2006, 07:52 PM

Byrd is still a huge racist. The only reason he isn't in the Klan still is purely political reasons.

smacintush · Sep 27, 2006, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Byrd is still a huge racist. The only reason he isn't in the Klan still is purely political reasons.

That's just not possible, Democrats cannot be racists. It's genetic or something.

itai195 · Sep 27, 2006, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Byrd is still a huge racist. The only reason he isn't in the Klan still is purely political reasons.

Do you have any proof for that assertion?

amazing · Sep 27, 2006, 09:29 PM

Of course it matters if he or his chapter lynched people. Just like it matters if someone was a concentration camp guard and their history is discovered after all these years.

So this story isn't going to die down soon, there'll be new details emerging. You can run (for Congress) but you can't hide.

ebuddy · Sep 27, 2006, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by itai195

Do you have any proof for that assertion?

He's a democrat. There really isn't more that needs said.

Kevin · Sep 27, 2006, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by itai195

Do you have any proof for that assertion?

No, but I do know people who do know him and his family.

I've lived in WV for 28 of the 33 years of my life.

His father was a big racist as well. I am sure it's a case of bad parenting.

Not everyone in his family thinks he is a stand up guy.

itai195 · Sep 27, 2006, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

No, but I do know people who do know him and his family.

So do I.

Not everyone in his family thinks he is a stand up guy.

Well that could be said of a lot of people.

Kevin · Sep 27, 2006, 11:15 PM

Right, but I am just passing on what they have said. He is a different person when he is with his "good boys"

They didn't go into detail, but claimed he hasn't changed in 40 years.

Or when someone would mention that he was no longer a racist they would roll their eyes.

Monique · Sep 28, 2006, 10:44 AM

For me, it depends if he commited a crime or not. If they were his opinions at one point in his life and he grew out of them; I have no problem with it. If he lynched a person himself he should be going to prison.